Former Patagonia CEO Pledges To Expand Chile’s National Parkland

The resultant Route of Parks will make up a network of 17 parks spanning 1,500 miles from Puerto Montt to Cape Horn.

Writer: Carly Terwilliger

Kristine Tompkins, who served as the CEO of Patagonia before marrying The North Face Founder Doug Tompkins, joined Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in South America’s Pumalín Park to pledge to expand Chile’s national parkland by 10 million acres.

President Bachelet stated that this is the largest creation of protected land in the history of Chile. Tompkins Conservation will donate over 1 million acres of land with the Chilean government pledging around 10 million acres. The additional acres will go toward the creation of five new national parks and the expansion of three existing parks.

The resultant Route of Parks will make up a network of 17 parks spanning 1,500 miles from Puerto Montt to Cape Horn. To support the Route of Parks and the economic benefits Chile is expected to glean from it, Tompkins Conservation along with its partners plan to implement a Chilean-based Friends of National Parks foundation.

“I wish my husband Doug, whose vision inspired today’s historic pledge, were here on this memorable day,” Kristine Tompkins said in a press release. “Our team and I feel his absence deeply. But I know that if Doug were here today, he would speak of national parks being one of the greatest expressions of democracy that a country can realize, preserving the masterpieces of a nation for all of its citizenry.”